Finance Watch: Rhythm And OptiNose IPOs Bring 2017 Total To 31, Surpassing 2016

Public Company Financings: Rhythm and OptiNose are the 30th and 31st initial public offerings of 2017. Also, reverse mergers add two more newly public firms, Valeant raises $1bn to pay down more debt, and PhaseRx and Trevena cut jobs.

This year's tally of biopharmaceutical initial public offerings in the US was tied with 2016's total of 30 IPOs when Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Inc. went public on Oct. 5, but 2017 outpaced last year when OptiNose Inc. launched its IPO on Oct. 12.

With 31 first-time offerings by drug developers and only two and a half months to go until 2018, this year...